


Staying Connected Over The Holidays

by vintagemisery49



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Christmas Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Texting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-31
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-09-13 16:52:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9132949
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vintagemisery49/pseuds/vintagemisery49
Summary: Lance can't help but feel bad for Keith, who is all alone for Christmas. So Lance decides that it's up to him to keep Keith company this holiday season....even if he's a whole state over from Keith.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was inspired by yaboybokuto fanart which can be found here: http://yaboybokuto.tumblr.com/post/153258338233/date-someone-who-will-fly-halfway-across-the

Lance absolutely loved Christmas and everything about it. He loved how it made his parents’ house smell like a mixture of spices, and how it just seemed to liven everyone’s spirits. He especially loved how it managed to bring his large family all under one roof once a year. Yes, Christmas was definitely Lance’s favorite holiday for many reasons, however something about this Christmas was leaving a churning feeling in his stomach, and it wasn’t the eggnog his Aunt Lucille had made.

Maneuvering past his cousins while trying to keep his phone steady was no easy task, but he managed to do it, all while entertaining the person on his screen. 

Glaring down as his screen Lance said, “I’d like to see you move around three kids hyped up on candy while trying to balance your phone!”

Keith just laughed at him, trying to cover his mouth to muffle the sound to no avail. “Oh please Lance, don’t even bother pretending to complain to me. You haven’t shut up about seeing your family for weeks now. No matter how hyper those kids are I’m sure you’re glad to see them.”

Lance felt a smile beginning to cross his face before shaking it off. “Don’t change the subject, that’s just playing dirty Kogane.”

“Well I learned from the best” Keith said, a small smile crossing his face.

“Awwww, Keith, are you finally admitting I’m better at you then something?” Lance asked, feigning surprise as he placed his hand over his heart. He had finally found a small corner of the house that seemed to be away from the loudness of the McClain clan.

“Now who’s getting off topic?” Keith asked as he shook his head.

"Okay, okay, fine, you got me. I’ll make sure to stay on topic from here on out” Lance said, placing his hand over his heart as if he was pledging his promise to Keith.

“Sure, we’ll see how long that lasts you doofus” Keith said, but there was no bite to it. It had been long since the two of them had gotten over their quote-on-quote rivalry and had settled into a comfortable friendship, or in Lance’s case, hopeless pining.

Now however was not the time to be thinking about how cute Keith looked wearing that ridiculous red sweater Lance had gotten for him last Christmas or how the dim lighting he was in seemed to make him glow or-no, now was not the time for any of that mushy stuff, he should be talking to Keith about the reason he had facetimed him. “Are you sure you’re okay being all by yourself?” 

His question seemed to take Keith by surprise. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, are you absolutely, positively sure that you’re okay being all by yourself on Christmas?”

“Lance, I’m going to be fine” Keith said, rolling his eyes as he adjusted the blanket that was wrapped around his shoulders. “It’s just another day in the year. I’ll be fine.”

“I know, but still. Christmas is all about being together with your family and friends and I just feel bad at the thought of you spending it all alone-“

“Lance, I’m going to be fine.”

“But normally you at least have Shiro! And this year Shiro is in Michigan for Christmas!” Lance exclaimed as he slid down the wall until he hit the carpet.

“Because Shiro decided to spend Christmas with his boyfriend’s family, I don’t see what the big deal is Lance. I’m the one that’s going to be by myself on Christmas, why are you so worried?” Keith asked as he ran a hand through his hair.

“I don’t know, I just, I just feel sad at the thought of you being all alone I guess” Lance said, shrugging his shoulders, all the while his brain was practically screaming the real reason Lance was so concerned with Keith being alone.

Keith’s loud sigh caught Lance’s attention. “I appreciate the sentiment Lance, but stop worrying about me and go back to your family. I know you’ve missed them.”

“Agh, fine. I’ll leave you all alone to your lonely apartment and Christmas movies” Lance said as he stood up.

“Oh I’m sure I’m going to have a blast” Keith said before ending the call.  
///////  
Keith was not sad, and he was certainly not lonely either. Wrapping his blanket tighter around himself Keith stared at the tiny Christmas tree that sat beside his TV. It was the only thing in his apartment that honestly signaled that it was even Christmas. The only reason he had even put a tree up was because of Lance. The other boy had insisted that it wasn’t Christmas without a tree and had dragged Keith out to find one.

In the end Keith picked out the smallest tree he could find despite all of Lance’s grumbling about him being unenthusiastic. And now the tree was making him sad because it was reminding him of just how glaringly alone he was. Lance was a whole state over and probably the happiest he had been all year surrounded by all of his family. Shiro was with his boyfriend and his family, which also happened to include Pidge. Hunk was in Hawaii visiting family and Allura and Coran were in England. Maybe he should spend this Christmas expanding his friend group.

Burying down further in his blanket, Keith considered just sleeping through the holidays when he heard his phone go off. Picking it up from besides him he saw it was Lance trying to facetime him again. He hit the accept button.

“What are you calling me for now?” Keith asked before sinking back into his spot on the couch.

“Ah, well, you see” Lance said as he rubbed the back of his head and began to babble of some kind of excuse the Keith only half listened to. It looked like he was sitting in a kitchen, and it sure sounded like it too with the banging of pots and the endless stream of chatter in the background. “-And so pretty much I called to remind you to eat since I know you can kinda get sidetracked and I don’t want to come back and find you starved on the couch or something.”

“Oh, right” Keith said as he looked down at the time, it was seven and he honestly couldn’t remember the last time he ate, maybe earlier that morning. “I should probably get something to eat.”

“You haven’t eaten have you” Lance squawked before going off on an angry tirade.

“I swear Keith how did you manage before I decided to humbly befriend you?” Keith hummed in acknowledgement as he got off the couch to go and find something in his fridge. 

“Honestly you would just waste away if I didn’t remind you that food is kind of a necessity of life, and to make matters worse you seem to only live off food you can microwave!” Keith continued to give Lance the occasional acknowledgment hum as he dug some kind of microwavable meal and once he found one he put it in the microwave.

“Those things are so unhealthy for you and you’re making one right now aren’t you?” Lance asked as Keith tried to hide his smirk behind his hand.

“Yeah” Keith replied without shame and didn’t bother hiding his laughter when he saw Lance’s face.

“Keith I swear you’re going to be the death of me!” Lance moaned.

“Oh hush” Keith said as the microwave went off. “Tell me all the juicy drama that’s happened so far since you decided to call.”

“Not much has actually happened yet, but this year mama set some ground rules to make sure that we didn’t start anything this year. I think my cousin Grace still hasn’t recovered from last year” Lance said, rolling his eyes.

“Is this the cousin that you and your siblings had crying by the end of the night?” Keith asked before shoving a forkful of food into his mouth.

“Hey, she had it coming. She had to bring up just how perfectly stable she was compared to me and I just happened to bring up that both of her previous boyfriends cheated on her” Lance said, holding up one of his hands defensively.

“That was kind of a low blow though, and aren’t you supposed to be the one all about the Christmas cheer and spending time with family?” Keith, taking a quick pause between shoving his dinner in his mouth, he hadn’t realized how hungry he had been until Lance had reminded him that he kinda needed to eat.

“Well yeah” Lance said, shifting in his seat. “But if someone decides their going to be petty, I’m not afraid to get down to their level.”

“Obviously” Keith said before shaking his head. Lance was a mess, and unfortunately for Keith’s gay little heart, hot as well. Maybe another thing Keith should work on this Christmas is his glaring crush on Lance.

“Come on Keith, don’t be like that. Tell me about you’re Christmas Eve so far. I’ve bet it’s been just eventful” Lance said, his tone and eyes showing his playful mood.

“It’s been just a blasts, I’m throwing the hottest holiday bash in town” Keith said as he jumped up onto the kitchen counter. He could just hear Shiro shouting at him from Michigan.

“I can’t believe I’m missing it” Lance said, leaning forward. “Take some pictures for me please, especially if you drunk, you’re a funny drunk.”

“Lance, may I ask why you’re ignoring your family to talk to me?” It had been bugging Keith for the past few minutes that it seemed that Lance was finding reasons to keep talking to him rather than getting back to his family. All Lance can talk about once November comes is meeting up with his family, so why was he spending all this time talking to Keith?

“Oh, well, not everyone’s here yet. We still have about an hour ‘til everyone shows up so I’m just biding my time until everyone gets here so we can eat I guess” Lance said, shrugging his shoulders, his eyes looking everywhere but at Keith.

“Still, I know you have a bunch of other family there, I can hear them” Keith said, as he heard what sounded like either one of Lance’s cousin’s or nieces singing some kind of Christmas song.

“Ah, well, I’m going to get my fair share of them over the next three days so I’m not worried about it. Plus right now my mom and all my aunts are in the kitchen fixing food and god help whoever gets in their way. I got kicked out for peeling potatoes wrong” Lance said shaking his head sadly.

“I didn’t know there was a wrong way to peel potatoes” Keith said, and he had little room to talk considering how he barely knew how to cook eggs, barely.

“According to my Aunt Lucille there is” Lance said, making some vague gesture. “There’s some sport game on but I don’t want to be there to witness any fighting that might break out, and the kids are everywhere. I love them, but at the moment I would make rather deal with them in a contained area since I think they ate like a bag of candy before coming here.”

“Aww, already getting tired of your family?” Keith asked.

“No, I would just much rather have a friend with me so I have an excuse for later for not helping with dinner” Lance said before putting on a fake pout. “But my terrible friend wouldn’t come with me because he’s a Grinch.”

Keith let out a loud sigh. “No, your friend didn’t come with you because he felt that he would have been intruding on your family gathering.”

“Well if my friend had come he wouldn’t be alone in his apartment and had to be reminded to eat” Lance said, the pout still on his face and dang was Keith happy that they were an entire state away because he didn’t know what he might do to get rid of that pout if they were face to face. 

“Lance, just let it goooo” Keith whined, wishing he was sitting on a chair so he could flop back dramatically. “I didn’t want to intrude. You’ll be fine; once all your family is there I’m sure you’ll forget all about me.”

Keith swore he heard Lance mutter something but when he asked him the other boy flushed and began to sputter that Keith needed to get his ears checked.

“Whatever Lance” Keith said. “I’m going to leave you to your family, I’m sure they’ve missed you.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. Everyone should be here soon, and I don’t need mama to flip over me having my phone at the table when family is here” Lance said before giving Keith a lopsided smile and a little wave.

Keith felt his heart sputter at the little smile but managed to keep his composure long enough to wave goodbye to Lance as well before ending the call. Letting out another sigh, he jumped off the counter and headed back to his seat by the tree.

Flopping back down into his spot he curled back up and started back off with what he had been doing before he had been interrupted. Christmas never had really done much for Keith, but this year it was leaving his heart feeling cold.  
///////  
“Lance, are you able to pull yourself away from your phone long enough to play a game of charades with your family?” his mama asked him, a hand on her hip and a brow quirked as if she was daring him to refuse her, which of course he could never do.

“Of course mama” Lance said as his finger hung dangerously above the facetime button for Keith. “You know I would never miss some good ‘ol quality family time.”

“Uh huh” she said before giving him, The Look. “Is that why you’ve practically had your phone glued to your hand and chatting away at it all evening? You’re cousins have been complaining about how you’ve been ignoring them. 

“I have not been ignoring them, besides it’s not like they bothered to come and find me anyway so they have no one but themselves to blame if I didn’t play with them earlier” Lance said as he followed his mama into the living room crowded to the brim with everyone. An annual Christmas charades game probably sounded pretty lame to most people, but a few years back his Uncle Benji declared that they needed to use this time for some good family bonding, and somehow it was decided that charades was the best way to do this.

“Oh don’t you start with that Lance” his mama said, rounding around on him and shaking a finger at him. “You know they look forward to playing with you, just try not to spend the rest of the holiday on your phone.”

“Of course mama” Lance said as he put his phone into his pocket. She gave him a small nod and a pat on the cheek before disappearing into the crowd.

He could hear his cousins yelling out all sorts of nonsensical words, so it would seem like the game had begun. Lance probably had while until it was his turn, and as long as he yelled out random words every once in a while maybe he could get away with texting Keith for a bit because there was no way Keith wasn’t feeling the tiniest bit lonely. So Lance had taken it upon himself to keep Keith company.

To: Mullet Boy (8:46 pm)  
Heeeeeeeeey!!!!! Haven’t gotten into any trouble yet?

From: Mullet Boy (8:47pm)  
I think I might’ve just sold my left kidney to a man named Kitten Rodger but I think I’m good

To: Mullet Boy (8:47pm)  
KEITH DON’T JOKE ABOUT THOSE KINDS OF THINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!

From: Mullet Boy (8:48pm)  
Who said anything about jokes?

To: Mullet Boy (8:48m)  
KEITH!!!!!!!

From: Mullet Boy (8:49pm)  
You and I both know I haven’t even got up from this sofa since we last talked

To: Mullet Boy (8:50pm)  
I don’t know Keith, you can be a pretty loose cannon sometimes……

From: Mullet Boy (8:52pm)  
So why are checking up on me for the umpteenth time? I know you haven’t gotten bored of your family

To: Mullet Boy (8:53pm)  
Can’t a guy talk to his best friend on Christmas Eve? 

From: Mullet Boy (8:54pm)  
I thought Hunk was your best friend?

To: Mullet Boy (8:54pm)  
Hunk is my BFFAE, best friend for all eternity

From: Mullet Boy (8:55pm)  
Oh sorry, didn’t realize there was a difference….shouldn’t you be doing something stupidly cheesy with your family? Like caroling or baking cookies or something?

To: Mullet Boy (8:56pm)  
Actually, we’re having a wonderful game of family charades 

From: Mullet Boy (8:56pm)  
I didn’t realize that you could play with that many people

To: Mullet Boy (8:57pm)  
Ehh, we make it work

To: Mullet Boy (8:57pm)  
Right now my cousin Maria is making a fool of herself. I think she’s a space ship or somethin

For good measure yelled out his guess in case his mama was listening to see if he was participating, which he was, but he was also keeping Keith entertained.

To: Mullet Boy (8:58pm)  
She wasn’t a space ship

From: Mullet Boy (8:58pm)  
I bet you’re terrible at charades

From: Mullet Boy (8:59pm)  
I’ve seen you play Pictionary, so I image it must be worse for you to have to act something out

To: Mullet Boy (8:59pm)  
Keith, you wound me

To: Mullet Boy (9:00pm)  
I’ll have you know that for the past four years my team had reigned supreme 

From: Mullet Boy (9:00pm)  
No thanks to you I’m sure

To: Mullet Boy (9:00pm)  
RUDE

To: Mullet boy (9:00pm)  
Apparently she was a mushroom, I didn’t realize mushrooms moved

To: Mullet Boy (9:01pm)  
And now Aunt Lucille is up to the plate, I’m sure after five glasses of eggnog she’s going to be a thrill to watch

From: Mullet Boy (9:02pm)  
Is this the same aunt who started a small house fire last year?

From: Mullet Boy (9:02pm)  
Because if she is I think she should’ve been banned from the eggnog

To: Mullet Boy (9:02pm)  
Yes, she did kinda set the toaster on fire but it was all good in the end

To: Mullet Boy (9:02pm)  
Plus it’s kinda hard to ban someone from what they bring

From: Mullet Boy (9:03pm)  
Ahhhh, I see

From: Mullet Boy (9:03pm)  
Well, don’t all families have one drunk relative at Christmas?

To: Mullet Boy (9:03pm)  
Honestly, the fact that all your Christmas family knowledge probably comes from movies worries me

To: Mullet Boy (9:04pm)  
You should’ve come with me to see what a real Christmas family get together looks like!

From: Mullet Boy (9:04pm)  
I think I’m safer at home, thanks

To: Mullet Boy (9:05pm)  
Just you wait Keith; I’ll find some way to drag you here next Christmas if you think you’re going to be all alone next year too

From: Mullet Boy (9:05pm)  
OH really? And how do you plan on doing that?

Lance was about to reply back with a long list of things he had planned to force Keith to actually experience some Christmas joy, most of which probably verged on kidnapping, when his phone was snatched out of his hand.

“Lance, stop texting your girlfriend. It’s your turn.” Apparently his mama had been watching him closer than he had thought. While she had a frown on her face, she also had a teasing sparkle in her eye.

“Mama, I’m texting Keith” Lance said as he made a grab for his phone which proved fruitless as his moved pushed him into the center of the room.

“Okay stop texting your boyfriend them” his mama said as Lance felt his face heat up. “You’ll get your phone back after the games over. Spend some time with us, we’ve missed you!”

“Okay, okay” Lance said as he picked his card. Spaceship, great.  
///////  
Keith was beginning to doze in and out of consciousness. He had given up waiting for Lance’s response a long time ago, and even though he knew that it should’ve been expected that at some point Lance would get too busy with his family to talk to Keith. But he was still a little bitter about the fact that Lance didn’t so much as at least tell him he was busy or just text him goodbye or something.

Checking the time Keith figured it was about time for him to end his pity party, get off the couch and head to bed. But Keith had managed to make himself a nice warm indent on the couch and he really didn’t want to leave that for a cold bed. Besides, it’s not like it would be the first time he’d slept on the couch.

Keith was drifting off again when his phone went off. Groping for it under the blankets, he pulled it out expecting it to be Shiro calling to wish him a merry Christmas or something but wasn’t too surprised to see that it was Lance.

Accepting the call Keith asked “Lance, what are you calling for now?”

“Oh cool, you’re still awake” Lance said, he looked to be in a dark room that was only slightly illuminated by some multicolored lights. “I was just calling in to check on you.”

“And why do you need to be checking in on me at eleven at night? Shouldn’t you be asleep, I know how much you hate losing your beauty sleep” Keith teased as he further buried himself under his blankets.

“Haha, very funny” Lance said, an unamused look flashing across his face. “I’ll have you know that I’m up waiting for Santa.”

“For Santa?” Keith asked, feeling his eyebrow raise. “Lance, I hate to break it to you but Santa-“

“Keith you doofus don’t say anything, I’m up watching the younger kids wait for Santa” Lance whisper yelled, cupping one hand by his mouth.

“Oh, I see” Keith said, a small smile crossing his face. “Hear any reindeer yet?”

“Nope, but we’ll keep vigilante…until midnight at least” Lance said with a shrug.

“Uncle Lance who are you talking to?” came a voice from off the screen.

Lance briefly turned his attention away from Keith to talk to the voice. “I’m talking to my friend Keith.”

“Is Keith your boyfriend?”

“Wha-, whe-, ho-I literally just told you he was my friend” Lance sputtered, the tips of his ears turning red, which in turned caused Keith to flush a lovely tomato color. 

Another voice sounded off-screen. “Lizabeth, don’t be mean to your uncle-“

“Thank you dear sis-“

“He can’t find anyone who would want to date his high maintenance self” finished Lance’s sister, all while her brother squawked indignantly.

“Betrayed by my own flesh and blood” Lance cried as he dramatically placed a hand over his heart. “Remember who’s watching your child right now!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m thankful you’re doing something you enjoy!” Lance grumbled as he turned back to face Keith.

“So what were we talking about again?”

“I’m not sure, you were telling me how you’re waiting for Santa or something” Keith said, glad that he had time for his face to return to its normal shade.

“Oh, yeah, you think you can stay up with me? A guy can only watch Rudolph and Frosty so many times before he starts repeating all the lines along with the characters” Lance asked.

“Yeah, I guess I can help spare you” Keith said, flipping himself onto his back. 

“Thank you!” Lance said. “Anyway, so I’m surprised you never said anything about my ugly sweater.”  
///////  
Lance had ended up falling asleep while talking to Keith last night, which meant he had ended up sleeping on the couch by the tree, which meant that he was bombarded by all the kids first thing in the morning.

The kids had long since opened their presents and were sitting on the floor trying to figure them all out while everyone else watched and talked. Or in Lance’s case, stare into his coffee lifelessly when he wasn’t talking to someone. It’s not that he didn’t love spending time with his family, he waited all year for these few days he had together with his family, but he couldn’t’ help but feel like something was missing, something that was specifically Keith shaped.

He couldn’t really call up Keith right now, he didn’t want to test his boundaries after being glued to his phone last night, but Lance couldn’t help but want Keith to be sitting next to him so they could joke about everyone’s bed head and make bets on who would crash first that evening. God did Lance wish Keith had actually come with him, it was bothering Lance too much thinking about Keith all alone. The whole point of the holiday was supposed to be about family, and Keith was pretty dang close to family according to Lance and Lance couldn’t stand any part of his family being alone at this time of year.

The gears in Lance’s head were beginning to turn and Lance had a feeling this plan would either end well, or crash and burn before it could even begin.  
////////  
Keith was on the couch again. He had considered going out and finding something that didn’t involve him laying on his couch moping because he was bored and Lance had finally given up trying to make his life slightly better. So he spent another whole day on the sofa, and tomorrow he’d be heading back to work as well. Maybe it would just be best for him to go to bed early and pretended he didn’t just waste his holiday on his couch.

He was just about to give up the possibility that something eventful could happen before his holiday ended when he heard the sound of a key going into a lock.

Sitting up, Keith turned his attention to his door and watched as his door knob turned. It looked like he was going to have an eventful holiday if that was a robber coming through his door. But how would a robber have a key to his apartment unless…

Keith didn’t have much more time to think up any crazy theory as his door opened to reveal Lance.

“L-Lance” Keith sputtered as he tried to take in everything that was going on, Lance wasn’t even supposed to be in state yet here he was at Keith’s door.

“Hey buddy” Lance said, stepping inside and closing the door behind him. “Surprise!”

“What are you doing here you idiot, you’re supposed to be catching up with your family and doing all kinds of cheesy family traditions are whatever!” Keith said, jumping up from the couch and heading over towards Lance, he still wasn’t quite wrapping his head around what was going on but boy was he going to figure it out.

“Um, yeah, well you see I kinda left” Lance said, watching Keith closely for his reaction.

“You left?! Why?” Keith cried, throwing his hands up because right now Lance should not be standing in his apartment. “You idiot, you love your family, why did you leave early?!”

“Well, you’re also my family” Lance said, placing his hands on Keith’s shoulders.

“Wha-“ Keith spit out before going quiet as he processed what Lance had said.

“You know, like how your friends eventually feel like your second family kind of thing” Lance said, taking his hands off of Keith as if they were on fire. “And since I can’t leave any of my family alone on Christmas I had to come back to spend the rest of Christmas with you.”

Keith stared hard at Lance for a good few seconds before wrapping his arms around the other boy and saying the only two words he could manage at the time. “Thank you.”

“Heh, no problem buddy” Lance said as he patted Keith’s back. This lovely bonding moment was cut off however by Lance’s phone.

As Lance pulled out his phone he muttered, “Crap, I knew I had forgotten something.”  
/////  
“Yes, mama, yes, I’m sorry. Yes, I swear I won’t do it again, uh huh, yes I’m a terrible child I know. Yeah, I’ll tell Keith hi. Uh huh, talk to you later bye” Lance said as he finally hung up with his mom, letting out a loud sigh he flopped back on the couch and rested his head on Keith’s shoulder.

“Was she pissed?” Keith asked, glancing down at Lance from the corner of his eye before moving it back to the TV screen.

“Oh you bet” Lance said, letting out another loud sigh. “Apparently I wasn’t clear enough when I said ‘I’m leaving’ with all my bags in my hand.”

Keith snorted. “You gotta make sure you’re crystal clear.”

“Oh shove it” Lance grumbled. “Tell me where you’re hiding all your Christmas goodies; I need to eat myself into a sugar coma after that scolding.”

“Unless you’ve stared another hidden stash in my apartment then I’m afraid you’re out of luck” Keith said with a shrug.

Lance let out a gasp before grabbing Keith’s arm. “Okay that’s it, were going out and were going to find some cookies or something and then we’re going to eat them while watching a lovely movie, you hear me Keith?!”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear you” Keith said as he let Lance drag him up. While this was all quite the opposite of how he expected his holiday to go, Keith had to admit that he couldn’t be happier.


End file.
